Pipe-welding apparatus.



No. 635,822. Patented Oct. 3|, I899.

.C. TWER.

PIPE WELDING APPARATUS.

(Application filed. Feb. 17, 1898.)

(No Model.)

7 M fi M4/%% M N TED STATES CARL TWER, OF ESCHWEILER, GERMANY.

PIPE-WELDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 635,822, dated October 31, 1899. Application filed February 17 1898 Serial No. 670.709. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CARL TWER, a citizen of the German Empire, and a resident of Eschweiler, Rhenish Prussia, Germany, have invented new and useful Improvements in Pipe- Welding Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in pipe-welding apparatus in which an elastic mandrel that can be turned into the bell and out of the same and which can easily be dismounted from the bell operates in conjunction with guiding-rollers penetrating through the wall of the bell and the pillows of which can be adjusted exactly to the thickness of the skelp to be welded; and the objects of my improvement are, first, to provide an elastic mandrel to support the seams of the skelp at the Welding-place in the inner well; second, to provide means to turn in and out of the bell the said elastic mandrel and to easily dismount it, if required, from the bell, and third, to afford facilities for the proper adjustment of the rollers in respect to the inner circuit of the bell and in order to reduce the friction of the skelp to be welded. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents the apparatus shown from the narrow end of the bell. Fig. 2 is a view of the apparatus as it is arranged next to the mouth of the furnace. Fig. 3 is a view of the same shown from the large end of the bell. Fig. .1: represents the one half of the two-parted bell, the adjustable rollers on it and its axles being in cross-view, the bent lever and the elastic mandrel arranged therein, and the turning-lever mounted on the axle of the said bent lever, all the mechanisms being represented in such a position as they are arranged when the apparatus is welding skelps. Fig. 5 shows the top View of the entire apparatus, the mandrel being turned into the bell. Fig. 6 represents the elastic mandrel and its bearing in the bent lever, and, finally, Fig. 6 is aplan View of the bent lever, in the conical opening of which the elastic mandrel is to be arranged.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The bell, composed of two parts at, screwed one within another by means of the screws 0, is provided at its large end with a pretty large opening d, formed by the two out half parts of the bell and which extends toward the narrow end of the bell at a certain distance. Each half part of the bell is provided at opposite sides with two plates 6, in the slits fof which the pillows g of the guiding-rollers r are arranged, so as to be adjusted by screwing on the set-screws h, in order to have the rollers approach more or less to the inner circuit of the bell. The surface of rollers 1 corresponds to the inner circuit of the bell at the welding-place. The bell is perforated at opposite sides at the places 1 through which openings the rollers 1" enter the bell to the inner circuit of the same.

At the one side of the bell the plates e are provided, each with a shoulder k, which shoulders are perforated in order to serve for bearings to the shaft Z. On the middle of this shaft Z is mounted the bent lever m, fixed to the shaft Z by means of the pin a. At both sides of this bent lever there is arranged a loose loop 0, in order to retain the lever in its proper position. The shaft 1 projects at one side of the bearings 70, on which projection is mounted a long turn-lever p. The lever m is bent so that when it has been turned to have the mandrel-entered into the bell the branch m of this lever fastly leans against the edge d of the opening d, Fig. 4:. The free extremity of this branch m bears the elastic mandrel q, destined to support the bent skelp at the Welding-place. The mandrel is split in its middle in order to be an elastic one and is provided exactly at the place where the edges of the skelp to be welded come in con tact one with the other with a guiding-roller 8. At the opposite side to that where the edges of the skelp come in contact the mandrel can be provided with a similar roller 25 in order to avoid friction between the skelp and the mandrel and simultaneously to produce a counter-pressure.

In order to make the mandrel q a self-centering one in its bearing in the bent lever m m, the opening in this lever in which the mandrel is secured is a conical one, as shown by Figs. 6 and 6 Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the bent lever m m, and arranged in it is the elastic mandrel q, the extremity of the said of the bent lever on m.

lever being broken to show the conical bearing of the mandrel. Fig. (5 is the top view The opening a has at the side turned to the small end of the bell a greater space than at the other side so that the mandrel (1 can balance a little in this openin g. Such an arrangement is necessary in order to have the mandrel center in the bell, for if the mandrel be rigidly secured in the bent lever it cannot give way when it puts against the wall opposite to the opening (1 in the bell, and the entering of the mandrel into the bell therefore be impossible.

N ow I will proceed toexplain the operation of my pipe-weldin g apparatus. I take a strip of iron of the required breadth and thickness the corners of the foremost end of which are bent together and welded with a common guiding-bolt and proceed to place it into the furnace, before the opening of which my welding apparatus is arranged. hen the strip has attained the required welding heat, it is conducted by means of the said guiding-bolt into the bell,the mandrel 1 having been turned out of the bell and having the same position as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. \Vhen the bolt, and with it the foremost end of the strip, has passed the small end of the hell, I turn, by means of the hand-leverp, the shaft 1,011 which is secured the bent lever m, bearing the elastic mandrel q, the latter entering into the bell, while the branch m of the said bent lever leans against the boundary border d of the opening (I. (See Fig. at.) The mandrel q, balancing in its bearing, is drawn by the moving skelp as far as possible into the bell and is prevented from proceeding too far by the branch m leaning against the border of the cut bell-wall. Then this strip folds around the elastic mandrel, and the edges of the strip are pressed by means of the mandrel and of the roller 8, the roller 25 producing a counterpressure at the same time at the opposite side. The pillows g of the rollers r r can be adjusted exactly to the thickness of the strip to be welded.

I am aware that prior to my invention pipewelding apparatus have been made in which a tongue in the interior of a bell operates in conjunction with guiding-rollers. Therefore I do not claim such a combinination broadly; but

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a pipe-welding apparatus, the combination of a bell, adjustable rollers arranged at opposite sides and penetrating through the wall of the bell, the bearings of one of said rollers being each provided with a lug, said lugs being the bearings for a shaft, a shaft mounted in said bearings, a bent lever secured to the said shaft, the free extremity of said lever being provided with a conical opening, an elastic mandrel secured in the said conical opening of the said lever, and a handlever mounted on the end of the said shaft, substantially as shown and described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

CARL TVVER.

Witnesses:

JOHN HEOKMANNS, FRANK M. BRUNDAGE. 

